Aug. 5, 2013

Megan Barry is the only person officially to jump into Nashville's 2015 mayor's race.

Written by

Joey Garrison

The Tennessean

A new political action committee has formed to get more progressive-minded women into Metro and state offices — and right now, that means electing Megan Barry the next mayor of Nashville.

The PAC, called Women for Tennessee’s Future, gave $3,000 to the at-large councilwoman’s 2015 mayoral campaign during the last financial quarter, its sole contribution, nearly emptying its modest war chest. Meanwhile, its next fundraiser, set for Friday, is at Barry’s Belmont-area home, where visitors will be asked to contribute a small amount.

Still, organizers say they’re more than just a one-candidate group. Under state law, PACs in Tennessee can give no more than $7,400 to individual candidates, and the hope is to raise much more than that over time.

“She is representative of a spokesperson of the kinds of issues we care about, and the kinds of women we want to help towards nomination and election,” said Carolyn Schott, a Nashville attorney who co-chairs Women for Tennessee’s Future.

But she clarified the mission: “It’s not about Megan Barry, it’s about advancing women’s involvement in the political process.”

Nevertheless, the PAC’s activity after forming last fall is an early sign of a push to elect Nashville’s first female mayor. Nashville hasn’t even had a woman run for mayor since 1991, when former Councilwoman Betty Nixon lost soundly to Phil Bredesen.

So far, Barry is the only person to jump into the next mayor’s race, still two years away. Other potential candidates bandied around are all men: Councilman Jerry Maynard, charter school operator Jeremy Kane, venture capitalist Stuart McWhorter and former Metro school board chairman David Fox.

Barry said she appreciates the support of the group, adding that Women For Tennessee’s Future is centered on “growing and encouraging women to run at every level,” not just her candidacy.

The group — which uses the acronym WTF in an intentional play on words — has entered a political universe that continues to see more men than women in office.

Only 11 of 40 Metro Council members are women. In Tennessee, seven of 33 state senators are women, and only 15 of 99 state representatives are women, even though the House speaker is a woman. In Washington, two of Tennessee’s United States House members are female.

“We have a terrible rate of representation from women,” said Bonnie Dow, a Vanderbilt University professor and treasurer of the PAC. “We are more than 50 percent of the population in the county and in the state. It would be nice to have parity.”

The group calls itself nonpartisan, but it figures to associate more with Democrats given its progressive tilt. Dow said it will promote legislation that supports women and oppose “bad legislation,” citing a past proposal that would require a vaginal ultrasound before an abortion.

Similar group exists

The formation of Women for Tennessee’s Future raised some eyebrows, because a similar group has existed for more than two decades.

Women in Numbers, a Nashville-based organization known as WIN, has pumped more than $225,000 to more than 100 Democratic and Republican candidates since organizing in 1992.

Though there is some overlap in goals, its leadership is welcoming the addition.

“Until it’s so normal for women to hold office that there is no need for organizations that support qualified women, then I’m excited to see groups form to support them,” said WIN President-elect Mary Nell Bryan.